Means for controlling the playing of automatic musical instruments.



C. M. WELTE.

MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE PLAYING 0F AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

- APPLICATION FILED DEC. 10, 193.

Patented Nov. 5, 1918.

II/I/EI WOR arr] M. Wane,

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL M. WELTE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO M. IVELTE & SONS, INC., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE PLAYING OF AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Application filed December 10, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL M. WELTE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Controlling the Playing of Automatic Musical Instruments, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art may make and use the same.

Perforated music sheets or records having a plurality of sets of perforations disposed in lines longitudinally of the sheet in such relation to each other and to a tracker board that one musical selection or a part thereof will be played while the record is traveling in one direction and a diflerent musical selection or part will be played while the record is traveling in the reverse direction, have hitherto been proposed. This invention relates to devices of the same nature and aims to make the same commercially practicable by a particular and advantageous arrange- Y ment of the perforations with relation to each other in the note sheet or record and by a novel arrangement of tracker ducts.

The drawing illustrates a note sheet or record and a tracker board embodying the present invention.

The numeral 1 designates a tracker board having two series or sets of tracker openings or ducts, one series being marked 2 and the other series 3. Thus, there are in effect two r tracker-boards coalesced into a single tracker board 1.

The music sheet is marked 4. The drawing shows .the arrangement when it is assumed that the music sheet is being unwound from the roll 5 and wound upon a roll not shown: the sheet in such case traveling in the direction of the arrows. This music sheet has a seriesor set of perforations 6 which, during the movement of the sheet in the direction indicated by the arrow will be brought into registering position with the openings 2 in the tracker board. The openings 6 thus cooperate with the ducts 2 in sounding the selected tones, in a manner well known in the art, during movement of the note sheet or record in one direction. It will be noted that the apertures 2 are in advance of the apertures 3 with relation to this movement of the note sheet.

The sheet also has a second set of openings Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 5, 1918.

Serial No. 805,678.

or perforations 7 which are arranged in lines alternating with the lines of perforations 6 and in the movement of the note sheet or record in the direction opposite that of the arrow, these perforations 7 are brought into registering relation with the respective apertures 3 in the tracker board. It will be noted that the apertures 3 are in advance of the apertures 2 with relation to this movement of the note sheet or record.

The perforations of the respective sets 6 and 7 are similarly disposed in advanced relation with respect to each other, so that as the sheet travels in one direction, the operating perforations are active with reference to the first row of tracker openings, while as the sheet is reversed in its movement, the second set of perforations are advanced to cooperate with the opposite set of trackerboard openings.

It will be understood that in practice suitable means, not herein shown or described, will be provided to make the tracker ducts 3 inoperative when the record or note sheet is traveling in the direction of the arrow and that said ducts will be made operative and the ducts 2 inoperative when the note sheet is traveling in the opposite direction. The winding and re-winding mechanism and the controlling mechanism for the tracker-board is not specifically shown or described, as such mechanism forms the subject matter of a copending application and is not specifically claimed herein.

It will be noted that the two sets of open ings 6 and 7 may be arranged within comparatively the same space now commonly employed in music sheets or records, and of course it is understood that the music sheet herein described may be perforated in both directions for any given register either a sixty-five note, eighty-eight note, or, in fact, any desired arrangement to suit the trackerboard which has ducts corresponding to the various sounding devices of the instrument.

WVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In combination, a music sheet having two series of perforations, the perforations of one series being alternated with the perforations of the other series transversely of the sheet, one of said series of perforations being arranged to play when the sheet is moving longitudinally in one direction and the other of said series of perforations being arranged to play When the sheet is moving longitudinally in the other direction, and a fixed tracker board over which saidsheet travels,

said tracker board having two series of perforations extending therethrongh and opening to the face thereof, the openings of. one

' ofsaid series alining with the perforations constituting one of the series of the note sheet and the openings of the other of said series allning with the perforations constituting the other of said series of the note sheet, the openings of each series of the tracker board lying in advance of the openings of the. other series with relation to the direction in Wh1ch the note sheet is traveling, and the said open ngs ofthe tracker board ,cOnStituting the months of ducts leading directly tothe controlling mechanism.

, Copies of this patent may be obtained for fiveiuentli each;byeaddressing the ffflomminioner 0!, Patents iwalhingtomkc." 

